Friends and faculty spoke during a memorial for Whittier High senior
Paul Jaurequi, 17, at the Whittier High campus April 6, 2009.
Jaurequi was fatally gunned down during a robbery at a Whittier
birthday party late Friday night. (SGVN/Staff photo by Leo
Jarzomb/SWCITY)

About 220 people gathered for 17-year-old Paul Jaurequi a senior who played for the school’s football team. Friends, several of whom wore shirts with the Whittier teen’s photo, held a car wash and took orders for shirts after the memorial to raise money for his funeral and his family.

School officials said they opened the campus Monday specifically so students can meet with counselors. Intercommunity Child Guidance Center also had a team of grief counselors.

She said counselors were on hand and will also be available next week. She asked students with information to go to an administrator and they will contact detectives. Eshilian cried afterward.

Jaurequi was fatally shot and another 17-year-old boy was wounded during a Friday night birthday party held in the 9800 block of Calmada Avenue that was advertised via a text message.

A friend said Jaurequi went to the party to sell nitrous oxide so he could buy a leather letterman jacket. Detectives didn’t confirm or deny this.

Sgt. Martin Rodriguez of the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said several party crashes attempted to rob some of the guests. One crasher tried to rob Jaurequi and the other victim in separate incidents, he said.

“A struggle ensured and during the confrontation, the victim was shot multiple times,” Rodriguez said.

Amanda Cadena, who was Jaurequi’s girlfriend, said he called her Friday about the party but she couldn’t go. She was told that after the confrontation with the suspect, Jaurequi turned around and tried to run.

She said he tripped over people lying on the floor and was shot.

“After the guy shot him, he took his money. He only had $40. So basically he shot him for $40,” Cadena said.

Jaurequi was pronounced dead at UC Irvine Medical Center.

“It was a birthday party,” Rodriguez said.

“But there was evidence that an entrance fee was being charged later when a lot of people showed up. By all accounts, the place was packed.”

He estimated there was at least 100 to 150 at the party. Deputies had been called to the location on Friday but the event hadn’t been going on for very long, Rodriguez said.

On Monday, family, friends, fellow students and school officials remembered Jaurequi as someone who was well-known, nice and a good friend.

“My uncle didn’t try to hurt anybody,” Melissa Jaurequi said.

She said he wanted to serve in the Navy.

“He dreamed of it all his life. He and his best friend, Angel,” she said. The friend is now a medic with a Navy.

Jaurequi’s younger brother, Jacob,was among those who spoke at the memorial.

“I looked up to him,” said Jacob Jaurequi. “He never did nothing wrong to nobody.”

Jaurequi was an outside line backer for the high school’s football team. In one of the programs for the team, he listed making the Navy Seals as his personal goal, physics as his favorite subject and baseball and skateboarding as his other sports.

He came from a family of five children.

Donations are being accepted.

Valerie Martinez, spokeswoman for the school district, said anyone who wants to donate to the family can go to the school and make the checks payable to the Whittier High School Alumni Association.

Martinez said Dave McCoy of Sargent’s Sportsman Paradise is also donating a letterman jacket.

Store manager Socorro Esparza said she met with the principal and was told money had been collected for the jacket.

`When Mr. McCoy heard about it, he decided to donate the jacket so the students can use the funds to help the family,” she said.

The shooter was described as a Latino, 16 to 22, standing between 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall and with a thin build.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500 and ask for Sgt. Robert Gray or Sgt. Martin Rodriguez.

Ruby Gonzales started working for the company in 1991. Since then she has written about cities, school districts, crimes, cold cases, courts, the San Gabriel River, local history, anime, insects, forensics and the early days of the Internet when people still referred to it as the "information superhighway." Her current beat includes breaking news, crimes and courts for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star News and Whittier Daily News. When not in crime reporter mode, she frequents the remaining bookstores in the San Gabriel Valley, haunts craft stores or gets dragged to eateries by a relative who is a foodie.

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